Quinoa year aims to ease food insecurity and transform the global diet

20 Feb 2013 - Quinoa, a highly nutritious grain-like crop that has made its entry into the food basket of culinary connoisseurs has been a staple for centuries in South America, among pre-Columbian Andean farming communities from Colombia to Ecuador. In fact, most of the world's quinoa is grown on the altiplano, a vast, cold, windswept, and barren 14,000-foot Andean plateau spanning parts of Peru and Bolivia.

In 2012, President Evo Morales of Bolivia was appointed Special Ambassador for the International Year of Quinoa by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Quinoa was thrust into the UN limelight by President Morales, himself a former quinoa farmer. Mr. Morales is in New York to launch the Year along with the First Lady of Peru, Nadine Heredia, who promotes the traditional Andean diet to combat infant malnutrition.